Valiant Announces “Pre-Order Edition Bundle” for X-O Manowar #1-3

Back in 2012, Valiant introduced the comics industry to the “pullbox variant,” a speciality cover specifically designed to encourage pre-orders and watched as it was subsequently adopted across the industry by a range of publishers including IDW and Dynamite.

Announced today, the Pre-Order Edition Bundle isn’t one, but three comics – each one a 48-page expanded edition of the new series by Matt Kindt and Tomas Giorello’s first arc “packed with trade paperback-style extras and bonus content” and new cover art by Giorello.

But to get them, ALL THREE must be ordered in advance and at the same time, by X-O Manowar #1’s initial order date of January 26th, 2017. Each then ship separately from March through May, but Valiant insists that orders for the #2 and #3 Pre-Order Editions will not be taken separately after January 26th date and will not be solicited as single releases in later monthly Previews.

Which is likely to drive some completists batty, but also lay a firm groundwork of pre-orders will retailers across the first arc of what Valiant is promising will be their single most important launch of 2017.

Says Valiant CEO & Chief Creative Officer Dinesh Shamdasani:

“Pre-orders are vital to successfully launching new comics. Early pre-orders help comic shops, big and small alike, gauge demand for new titles and concepts. We wanted to go the extra mile with X-O MANOWAR to ensure comic book retailers had as much pre-order information as possible, so that they can make sure to have plenty of shelf copies available for what we anticipate will be a hotly demanded book.”

To that end, Valiant will also be including coupons for the pre-order bundle and regular edition of X-O Manowar #1 in this month’s Previews catalog for fans to clip and present to retailers.